Between Light & Dark
by InfernoDarkness
Summary: Pretty much AU. Hinata Hyuuga has just began her career as a genin and her newly formed Team 8. However, she's beginning to realize her lack of confidence is hindering her from both using her full potential, as well as get close to the boy she's in love with. One day, she runs into a team member of his, and strikes a deal. Primarily Sasuhina intent, but also contains Naruhina.
1. Chapter 1: The Raven Haired Boy

Leaves began to fall as she hid behind the notebook at her desk, eyeing the hyperactive blonde boasting about his goals. Seeing him like this always encouraged her to do better herself, making her feel a little brave from her normal timid self. Beside him was a boy with raven hair, the one always arguing with him. Feeling a little glum, she sulked a bit as the bell rang, prompting her to leave her desk. Today was the day they were separated into teams, and she wasn't placed into hers.

"H-hi...I-I'm Hinata Hyuga" stuttering as she nervously introduced herself to her teammates, fidgeting, she couldn't help but feel nervous as she hardly ever spoke.

Feeling their instructor pat her on the shoulder, she jumped a little, "Good job" she congratulated her before turning back to the other two, "As of Today, we are Team 8, and we will learn to work together. Now, I'll be honest, this is the first time I've been assigned as leader, so I hope to do well for you three"

"Man... Why did I get stuck on the same team with bug boy over here?" groaned the boy with red marks on his face, wearing a jacket with a fluffy rimmed hood pulled up.

Talking to the silent boy with a light green jacket, a collar raised up that easily covered his mouth, "...I think it's just fine..." bluntly saying in a quiet voice. It was hard determining his expression, as his eyes was covered with sun glasses.

"Now quiet you two" the teacher instructed, "For the remainder until you form a team of your own, we are to work and cooperate as a team... is that understood?"

She couldn't help but keep silent during this moment. Watching them go back and forth with another, she felt a bit hesitant; not wanting to bother them as they continued on. The moment the instructor dismissed them for the time being, she watched as her own teammates began to go off on their own ways.

"I wonder what he's doing right now..." thinking to herself she wondered what the blonde hyperactive kid was up to at this moment. She was disappointed that she wasn't placed in the same team as him, thinking that perhaps she could have been a little more motivated to do more and speak more.

Thinking for a moment, she looked around, and began making her way over around, fidgeting a little as she lost in her thoughts. The mere thought about of having him on her mind only made her fidget a little more, her face flustering.

Hearing noise, she made her way around, carefully keeping herself close to the trees. Hiding in the shadows was something she's always down; too afraid and timid to deal with confrontation. She was shocked at how the other team was compared to hers. The girl with long pink hair, Sakura, was carefully planning her every move as they went against their teacher. However, she was distracted as she was too busy watching the raven haired boy, Sasuke, pull off solitary techniques. What caught her eye though, was the blonde haired hyperactive kid, Naruto, who was busy being rash and stubborn.

Eventually as time went on, the three were eventually promoted and congratulated for working and thinking like a team. "Sakura~" he heard him call out to the pink haired girl, "Let's go have some Ramen together" smiling sheepishly.

"Shut up, Naruto" Angrily looking down on him before turning back to the raven haired kid, "Sasuke~ How about we go?"

The boy just ignored her, "You two go on ahead" telling them nonchalantly, "I have some things to take care of" Sending them off, the two left, Naruto desperately chasing after Sakura as the latter tried to get rid of him. Wanting to follow, her thoughts were interrupted, "You in the forest... come out"

Her heart began to pound realizing that she was found out. Knowing that leaving was impossible at this point, she peered out from behind the trees, looking towards the raven haired boy, "Y-yes...?" she felt scared, not knowing what to do in this situation, "S-sorry... I was just..."

"...Don't care" dulling his eyes towards her, he closed them half way, "I figured you were a threat... nothing more" saying as he began to make his way off.

Watching him turn his back, the well-known emblem of a clan that was massacred one night, she felt her heart beat against her chest. The experience scared her, thinking that she wouldn't have needed to confront such a scary person. Waiting until her heart calmed down, she slowly made her way back to town, hoping that she could forget the existence entirely.

Bustling, everyone she graduated the academy with was out doing their own things after first getting to know their new teams. As it was midday, she made her way around, hoping that she could find some place to have a meal, feeling a little hungry after today. Walking around, she overheard a familiar voice as she passed the ramen bar.

"One Ramen please" an ecstatic voice rang out. Hearing the voice she quickly hid behind the pole, "Ah, this'll be great!" watching as he happily ate down his meal.

Watching, the nervousness in her stomach began to stir once more. "N-Naruto..." feeling embarrassed, she couldn't bring herself to make her way to talk to him.

"Ah... that was great... one more!" she heard him ask.

It was at that moment that her teammates came up from behind her, "Hinata, what are you up to?" asked one the rowdy one, Kiba, "You're hiding behind that pole like you're trying to get away from someone.

"A-aah!" startled, she leapt back, hearing him speak. "S-sorry, Kiba" bowing a little.

Standing there, she felt a little too shy to continue on, noticed by her teammates, "Any who, our instructor wants us to head to the training field for some team practice, saying that she wants us to get to know another's weakness... or something"

"O-okay" still feeling out of it, she followed her teammates to the training area, a little disappointed she had to leave him.

Training was a little rough. The three of them were out of sync as Kiba dashed around the field in a spiraling blitz. Shino, her quiet, bug-loving friend constantly had to keep Kiba on track as he used his mass of insects to forcefully direct his teammate towards the target. However, she was too shy, unable to do anything as she just stood back.

"That's enough for today" their instructor sighed, pressing her forehead into her hand, "Tomorrow we'll get try again and we'll start our first mission together as a team" leaving abruptly.

Annoyed, Kiba began to rant a little, annoyed that the instructor wasn't too pleased. "Shino, I totally had it!" getting up in his face, "If it wasn't for your stupid bugs, could have hit the target"

"...If it wasn't for me, you'd have accidentally hit Hinata..." making a point, the two of them looked over at her.

Startled, feeling a confrontation, she backed off a little, falling onto the ground, "S-sorry... I just wasn't sure... what to do..." twiddling her fingers.

"Oi, Hinata..." glaring at her, Kiba looked at her disgruntled, "you can't be hiding all the time... we need you to be a part of this team"

Nodding nervously, she replied, "O-okay" a bit taken back, "I'll try my best"

With that, her two teammates made their way off, leaving her behind. Alone with her thoughts, she looked back on what Kiba had said and realized that he was right. If she couldn't work up the courage to even act in their team, she likely couldn't do anything about the spiky haired blonde she has a crush one.

Just as she was making her way back, she heard grunt and noises coming from deeper in the forest, "Huh...?" thinking to herself, she steadily made her way towards the noise. To her shock, she watched as someone continued on their own.

It was the raven haired boy she had just talked with, doing some solitary training. Around the scattered ground, were straw dummies standing straight up. "Fire release: Fire ball technique!" reciting as he leapt in the air, stringing hand seals together he inhaled greatly before releasing a large ball of fire towards one of the dummies, incinerating it.

"A-amazing..." as much as she didn't want to admit, he was definitely skilled. The ability to develop element techniques were beyond something someone of their rank should be able to do "Then again... he is from that family..." she continued thinking to herself.

Resting a bit, he pulled two kunai's from the holder on his leg and quickly tossed them in her direction. Seeing it, she dropped down as they impaled the tree behind her. Her heart racing, it only got worse as she came face to face with the boy himself.

"What are you doing here" dulling his eyes towards her, he approached her, "hm...?" taking note at her eyes as the flame symbol on the shoulder of her jacket, "You're of the Hyuga clan..." almost as if his tone became more aggressive.

A cold bit in her stomach formed, feeling a little more scared, "S-sorry... I-I didn't mean to..."

"..." watching her fidget and stutter for some reason demolished what aggression was building up, "You say sorry way too much... stop that" his eyes closing half way, narrowing down at her.

It was almost instinctive, as she began shaking a little more from the fact he was still talking to her, "S-sorry!" cringing a little, feeling him glare at her as she apologized yet again, "I was just... curious... I-I heard noise and..."

"...It's fine" giving up, "You weren't bothering me... so I'll be on my way" saying as he turned his back towards her, making his way over to the training field.

Again, the confrontation startled her. Watching him leave, her heart was skittish as she tried to recover from that encounter. Hesitantly, she reached out for him "W-wait...!" calling out to him a bit weak.

"Mm?" hearing that, he stopped and turned around, facing her, "What is it?"

Gripping onto her chest, she gulped nervously, "I... I'm..." shaking a little, she continued on, "I'm Hinata Hyuga..." her voice growing faint, "I was... was... wondering if..." dazed, she stopped talking for a bit before she continued, "you could... help me... gain confidence"

"..." disinterested by her out of the blue introduction and declaration, he turned his back facing her, "...Sasuke Uchiha" his hands placed on his waist, stopping short.

Feeling a little prideful in her ability to introduce herself and declaration all of a sudden, she felt a bit more confident already. Wanting to continue forward, she hesitated a little before realizing he had already gone back to his area of training, prompting her to go after him suddenly.

* * *

 **A/N: Well here it is! the first chapter. I had this written a while back but just recently had the courage to post it. It's sort of an AU, and basically what happens normally will be mentioned but not shown (I mean... you've seen it...so...why xD) but I will write out the different events that'll happen over the course of this :3. It IS a sasuhina sort of fic, but it does/errr will contain NaruHina moments, so there'll be both moments,... in a sense. Leave me some feedback on your thoughts of how its starting! :3**


	2. Chapter 2: One Step Forward

Exhausted, she fell to the ground, feeling beaten and worn after the mock battle she had with the raven-haired shinobi. Her breath ragged, she was finding it difficult to stand her ground. Pain spread throughout her entire body, making it even harder to push herself back up. She knew firsthand going in that the battle between them was going to be difficult, but at the same time, she was hoping that he would give her a slight handicap, just to see what she had to give, not go full force. Though, she should have been more prepared to anticipate what was going to happen.

"So,... is this all you have?" he asked, standing before her. She could tell that it was him because of the end of the blue high collared shirt was within her sight. The words he spoke to her was cold and filled with disinterest, something she was already used to. "Though, I could see why you want to grow stronger" hearing more as he continued to speak on, "Your movements were slow, almost like you were holding yourself back" pointing out his observations, "But..."

Clutching the dirt in the ground, the words she was hearing wasn't anything new, but no matter how many times she would hear it, it stung. She wasn't a fighter like the rest of her clan, or the clan he was from, so being told how weak she was was harder for her to hear, "I-I'm s-sorry..." It was no use afterall, she felt.

"Tch... It was a waste of time" sighing, he turned around to make his way off, "Hyuuga Clan, was it?" thinking aloud as he stopped, "Famous for their 'Byakugan' or, 'The All Seeing white eye'" thinking to himself aloud, "Why didn't you use it?" he asked. There was a possibility that by withholding it from their mock battle, he was insulted further that she wasn't even making an attempt to try.

There wasn't a good reason she could say why she didn't use it in the fight. The only thing she could tell him was that she was too frightened to properly use it, but telling him that would probably get more berated like she would from her younger sister, father, and even her eldest cousin. However, there wasn't much else to be said, as when she looked up, he already gone. Although she had worked up the courage to ask someone like him for help, it came to naught as he had already given up on her, much like everyone else had.

Biting her lip a little, she felt a little frustrated with herself, as well as unable to overcome her own fear. "Perhaps,... I should go meet up with the team..." struggling, she slowly but surely, managed to make herself stand up and make her way back to where they usually meet up.

She had wanted to do something about her appearance, but there wasn't much she could do without drawing the attention of her entire family. The last thing she would want to happen is the entire clan taking this as a sign of war, and making it a sole reason for them to attack the sole Uchiha, even though she had practically asked for this, knowing that she went up to him for help. Though, the main thing holding her back was a lack of self acceptance that even when she needed to, she couldn't trust herself in what she was going to do.

-[x]-

Before she made her way out in public, she did a light wash from the pond in the training area. The cuts and bruises were still slightly showing, but she managed to clean herself up from the amount of times she fell to the ground during the mock battle. She had made sure to take measures before hand to not wear her jacket during the fight just incase something would have happened to it. Although, it only made it slightly more awkward as he relationship with the ground was more prominent that way.

However, just as she made her way out of the training area and onto the road to where her team usually met up around this time, "Hey! Hinata!" a voice called out to her. She knew the voice well, causing her to remain still in her spot. Turning to the side, she watched a boy with spiky blonde hair and an orange jumpsuit began to make his way towards her. "Ah,... there you are" saying as he came to a stop, slightly catching his breath, "I wanted to get to you earlier, but Kakashi had to sit there and lecture me" looking slight bothered.

"N-N-N-N-Naruto?" flustered instantly, her face burnt completely red as she realized how close he was to her, "W-wh-what are you d-doing?" asking, stuttering uncontrollably.

Crossing his arms, in an attempt to think "Hmm... what was it" thinking aloud to himself, "Oh, right!" tapping the bottom of his closed fist against the open palm of his hand, "I saw what that jerk Sasuke did!" suddenly getting a little frustrated, "That's always been his problem, not holding back,...! And then he walked off without treating your wounds! Here, sit down real quick" offering with a gentle smile, "But man! what you did looked really cool!"

She didn't want to pass up such an opportunity like this, but her body wouldn't move no matter what she did. Subtly she waited, slowly being helped to a nearby bench. Her heart was a fluttering mess as she tried to keep herself calm and composed. It was a challenge though, as no matter what, she couldn't contain her thoughts. Sitting there, the boy she liked was helping with with some of the bruises she got from the mock battle. Just the feeling of the herbal medicine being applied and bandages made it difficult for her to concentrate on not completely passing out in front of him.

"Aaaannnnnd, Done!" with a large smiling grin he stood, passing her a thumbs up in accomplishment, "Well, I have to go. Kakashi promised he was going to teach me a super cool technique today, bye!" passing her a large smile before eagerly running off.

Sitting there for the moment, she had tried to process everything that had just happened. Her heart was still running a hundred miles per hours, and her body, especially her face, was burning still. Furthermore, she also was treated by him, her slight wounds being patched up was more than she could handle. Using that slight burst of confidence, how temporaily she felt it may be, she got up from her spot and quickly made her way over to the usual meeting spot with her team.

They were sitting at an odd location, near the entrance to the village where as usual, they were relaxing as they waited for her. This was her second day in her newly formed Team 8, and as she returned already worn and torn from her mock training battle, she couldn't imagine what they could be doing or what kind of plans they had for the rest of the day.

"Ah, Evening, Hinata!" her instructor greeted her, "O-oi, is everything okay?" commenting noting how worn she looked, "You looked like you went through a fight for your life!"

Hearing that set her heart beating wildly. Soon her other teammates caught wind of what was going on, eyeing her, putting on the spotlight. Even if she had wanted to say she was okay, the words were hard as it was, sending her soon into a light daze. Today wasn't her day when it came to being able to speak up.

"Okay okay, nevermind" realizing the situation, "The fact of the matter is, all three of you are here" announcing to the rest of the members, "What makes you all unique, is that each of you has a specialty that allows you to track or find someone" she explained, "Kiba, you and your clan are ace's in tracking with your heightened sense of smell. Shino, your clan uses insects, and Hinata, you have the Byakugan" listing each of their traits, "Today's exercise, is finding me" she stated, "I'm going to hide and change my appearance, while your goal will be to track me down whatever you can. You have one hour" As she finished, she left of a puff of smoke, leaving the team behind.

Fired up, Kiba rose up with a little pup in his jacket, "All right, we'll show 'em we're the fastest, all right, Akamaru?" as the pup replied with a tiny bark the two sped off.

"Hinata..." the quiet slight indifferent voice spoke to her, "Will you be all right?" asking him, knowing her tendency to fluster up and things going wrong.

Taken by surprise, she fell back a little, "Y-Yeah...-T-thanks" fidgeting slightly, "I-It's expected of me...s-so..."

"..." calmly standing there, as if he was waiting for something, "Failing a test, such as this, or that" pointing to her slight roughed up appearance, "Should be used as a motivator to desire more knowledge" telling her, "Knowing is usually the first step to doing. So don't be afraid to be wrong, and use what you know..." slightly advising her as a bug slowly made its way towards him, as if it was speaking to him, "I'll let you tag this time,... but other answers to any other future test you'll have to find on you own".

Timidly following behind her, she let the words her teammate spoke sink into her as she realized he must have known about the mock battle between her and the Uchiha, as well as her encounter with Naruto. He had a point though, she felt. If she gave up where she was now, the progress she'd make would either be slower than she had wanted, or not any at all. She has the opportunity to get close to the person she's crushing on, and all she'd have to do is take the first step.

-[x]-

As the sun began to set, she rushed back through the forest on her way to the training area, hoping to find the Uchiha training like he did last time. It was a stepping stone, and for her, getting through this would mean one more step closer to her goal. She hadn't thought it through that perhaps the reason he was so tough on her was that everything else aside from it would be easier. Uchiha's were a clan that were adept in fighting, and anything inferior was something deemed a waste of time. As such, anyone adept or strong enough to catch their attention was something to be praised of. Luckily, she managed to catch the Uchiha finishing up a training session with his teammates, waiting until everyone aside him left so that she could speak with him alone.

"This is getting repetitious..." she heard the cold words referring to her, "How many times are you going to hide there?" tossing a gaze in her direction.

Her heart began to beat wildly, prompting her to grasp the area in an attempt to calm it down. Making her way out of the shadows, she stepped closer, feeling her entire body shake. "A-As many times..." forcing the words out of her mouth, "This time,... T-This time I'll-..." she had wanted to push forward, to reach the person she liked, and if she couldn't do this, it may be impossible in the future, "Byakugan!" with her tiny bit of courage, she activated her bloodline limit and fell into stance before leaping at him.

It was a huge rush she felt, diving head first into a fight just so she could prove to herself she was more than what everyone said she was. As she landed just a few feet before him, lunging forward with an open palm strike, she watched as he simply fell to the side, avoiding her strikes as she kept them going. He was careful, while not knowing the extent of what could happen if he made contact with the tips of her fingers or her palm, and thus decided to avoid them all together by pushing them to the side. Running a little ragged from earlier this morning and missions with her team, he decided to end it by grabbing an open palm strike and throwing her forward, forcing her to move with the added momentum as he strung together several hands seals.

"Fire Release: Grand fireball technique!" gathering the chakra inside of him, he released a controlled ball of flames aimed at the ground beside her, knocking her to the ground as she tumbled. "Shockingly improved, Hyuuga" she heard, "It seems you really are serious after all" he added, "If you had done this earlier, we could have started today,...but I guess that's all"

Exhausted, she fell to her knees needing to rest as she tried to stand back up, "U-Uchiha?" stuttering a little, calling out to him as he simply stood there, "W-why couldn't you just tell me?"

"Because..." approaching her, dropping to her level, "You want to get stronger, you wanted someone's help... and it's obviously for someone to acknowledge you" he began to tell her, "If you don't find your own reasoning to do that, then there's nothing anyone can teach you" explaining to her before standing up, "Persistence is something to fight for on your own. There are no easy streets or tricks..."

She was tired, feeling like it was an easy puzzle she could have done without overthinking it so much, "But if it was so easy..." remembering how he acted towards her earlier as well as the words the rest of her famil and team have said, "T-Then why bother now...?"

"...You remind me of someone" letting out a sigh, he stood up, "It's getting late, Hyuuga,... you should run back to your family. We'll start early mornings, 5-7am, no complaints" saying as he faced his back to her, waving her off.

She sat there, wondering what he meant of 'you remind me of someone' as if it was a huge reason behind why he decided to hear out her request. Although, regardless, she had to admit she was proud of herself that she was able to clear the first step into realizing her goal. Catching her breath, she fell to the ground, being able to relax and feel the cool breeze brush over her. Thinking about it, she had wished that he stuck around longer instead of just leaving after picking her up. There wasn't an opportunity for her to thank him, and needed to remind herself to thank her teammate as well.

* * *

 **A/N: Chapter 2 ! :D Sorry it took so long. I got side tracked with like every bash comments that I usually get. (Which by the way can they stop? It wastes your time and my time,...and why are you guys even reading it anyways?) either way, I also was working on future chapters, or one shots to cheer myself up. But! I have it done. So here it is! Let me know if you've any suggestions or ideas as to what should happen next (again, bashing will be ignored, seriously, stop wasting everyone's time please) This AU is gonna be a little(alot) different so working out the bugs still kind of take a bit. Welp. Darkness out~ xD  
edit: I like how people automatically assume I'm going to bash Naruto just because this isn't about a canon pairing. It's almost like they know all the details I'm going to write :O Someone call the president we have know-it-alls~**


	3. Chapter 3: Belief

Morning training was difficult for the young Hyuuga, but she was ready to do what she needed if she was ever going to change. Unlike the mock battle he had put her through; the morning training was suprisingly less difficult as all they've done was seeing how far she could go. Slowly, bit by bit, she was able to push herself to atleast strike him without hesitation. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough to consider being able to be labeled as 'improvement' rather than before where it felt she was basically just standing in a singular spot taking hits left and right without a means to stop.

With the kunai's blade lightly pressed against her throat, he stopped it just short that there was a small gap between it and her next, "Hesitance will blind, no matter how much you can see" pulling it back, letting her slightly regain her breath, "Though, you've been improving daily, Hyuuga" giving her a slight compliment.

"D... Do you always train this early by yourself?" asking him as she continued to catch her breath, "You always seem to be training on your own,... why not with your team?"

A little dulled with her question, he crossed his arms, dropping his gaze halfway, "I'm in a team with a girl who won't leave me alone,... and a guy who's practically an idiot" explaining it to her, "People like that will only hinder my progress, and I can't afford to fall back because of a team like that... or any other team for that matter" easily dismissing the thought.

"T-That's not true!" easily sparked and full of energy she stood up, "N-Naruto easily can overcome anything!" arguing with the Uchiha's way of dismissing him, "I've seen him, h-he's always trying so hard, and..." in the midst of her slight heroic outburst, she caught on to the fact that the Uchiha was looking at her in a way as if he pieced together her sudden request.

He had found it strange that of all the people to approach him, and nonetheless, persistent in him teaching, it was the young Hyuuga, "I see" his tone shifting slightly, "So the person in question you were hoping to reach was Naruto, eh?" catching her in a bind.

She stood there, slightly in fear of what he was thinking after knowing the motives behind her actions. Of course she was going to mention it sooner or later, or perhaps be casual about it, but she was hoping that it wouldn't come to the fact of him finding out on his own. There was no explanation behind it, but almost every time he was angry or even the slightest disappointed, it sent shivers down her spine, feeling that there was no boundaries to wish he wouldn't cross. What scared her the most, however, was that she didn't know how he was going to follow through with his discovery.

"Hmm..." it seemed like he finally came to a conclusion on his thoughts, 'causing her to fall back, reeling in slight worry of what he was going to do, "I see... then I'll make a deal with you, Hyuuga" saying a loud, "As I help you... I guess,... become stronger and more full in confidence, you'll put 100% in your training" requesting, "No hesitation" stating, "Do that,... and..." rolling his eyes, he let out almost a sigh over the thought, "I'll get you closer to that idiot" she could see that perhaps the thought of having to interact with him more than he needed was slightly killing him on the inside, "Do we have a deal?"

Some point through, her mind had blanked as she burst into a fluster, thinking about the possibility that what he said was true. Get closer to her crush? Slightly dizzy, she tried to shake herself out of it so that she could properly respond, "D-deal...!" her heart racing, she wondered how he would do it. Hopefully, if it all worked out to how she wanted, there was a chance that perhaps they could go on missions together. All she had to do was put a 100% in their short training time together, and not show signs of hesitation.

"Good then..." taking her response as an understanding of their agreement, "I'm expecting a lot out of you" telling her.

Nodding, she mustered up the rest of her energy and pushed it into where she could use it. All she had to do was put enough effort into her training and everything was going to fall into place, or so she hoped. Strength. Confidence. Love. The three things she aimed for was just there, and maybe, thinking to herself, she could perhaps make a friend in him. It was a long shot, but she felt that maybe working as being friends with him would help her get used to the future events whenever he would help her bond alongside Naruto. Although, the troubling thing she felt was that he was almost an exact opposite of Naruto. She noticed that even though people liked him, he had a tendency to ignore them and shrug off anything they did.

-[x]-

After their training, the two of them traveled through the city, her eyes kind of focused on the Uchiha emblem on his back. He was meeting up with his team and felt it was a perfect opportunity to follow through on his word in the hopes that it would continue to inspire her to continue on further. She was nervous, wondering what it was that he was going to do or how he was going to work them together. []. Eventually, the two of them made their way to Ichiraku Ramen Shop, and in, she could see that at least the other of his members were there waiting.

"Oi, Where's Kakashi?" asking them without the slightest care, "I want to ask him something.

One of the people there, the pink-haired kunoichi was Sakura, "Saassssukkkeee!" with a loud cheery greeting, she dashed forward to move in close to him, only for him keep her back by halting her movement with his hand. She was starting to see why he would be slightly irritated to be with his team all the time, she thought to himself.

"Sasuke!" this time, it was the familiar voice she was used to hearing, the blonde hyperactive shinobi who had followed suit, only the difference was that he was aiming to get a challenge from. He too was halted the same way, "What's the big idea?"

She could see the situation he was in. Holding back the blonde shinobi with his hand, "Didn't Kakashi organize a meet today?" asking him, "Usually he's here..." for a second, he had forgotten the original purpose of what he was aiming, prompting him to push the two back as keeping them there was tiring on his part. "Back to the reason. I stole a member from her team" bluntly telling, stepping to the side and point back to her with his thumb, "As part of... training" not feeling the need to divulge the rest of the information.

"...!" she felt the spotlight on her as he gave her the signal to introduce herself. "H-h-h-h-h-hi" it was hard enough introducing her to her own team, and although she had gone to classes with the rest of them, this was one of the few times that she's had to personally introduce herself, especially in front of that certain person there making it slightly more difficult, "M-My name i-is Hyu-" she couldn't do it. Especially considering she could hear her heart beating louder than her own thoughts at the current moment.

Shutting her eyes slightly tight, she could hear a light sigh of discontent, "This is Hyuuga Hinata" she heard him say, surprising her slightly, "She'll be joining us today, or rather, that's what I wanted to talk to Kakashi about"

"Oii" hearing her crush suddenly get all riled up, "You better not be doing anything mean to her, Sasuke!" calling him out, reminded of last time, "Don't tell me you just idly stole her for whatever twisted games you have!"

The two of them exchanged glares as the air around them felt like they were going to start another fight. Watching this, she couldn't help feel that this was perhaps a normal thing for the two of them and would explain his refusal to spend the time training together with his own team. He and Naruto would get into argumentative fights that would slightly threaten physical ones, and on the other side, Sakura only fueled the fire slightly by just repeating everything Sasuke was saying.

"Hey hey" startling the group, they all turned to see that Team 7's instructor, Kakashi Hatake, had just appeared, again, something she felt was the normal thing for them, "It's only morning,... so save the fighting for later you two" speaking directly to Naruto and Sasuke, "What happened this time?" sighing, a bit exhausted from having to stop these two from fighting this early.

The two of them explained the situation to their instructor, both of them having a slightly different take on the tale, even though the real truth was, was that Hinata was there solely because Sasuke promised her that he'd do something to get him and her close. After assessing the situation, Kakashi was in slight contemplation of what he was going to do, especially because one of his students, if it was the only bare fact of both of their stories, seemingly just took a student from another Team without asking either Team's instructor for their permission. Though, having to take her back to her Team, nevertheless finding it, and explaining it seemed a little more than he wanted to do today.

"I'll allow it just once" coming to a conclusion, "Though, Sasuke, you need to be more respectful of other Team's. You cannot simply just take people from other team's without alerting anyone's attention" giving him a slight lecture. Turning over to Hinata, he put on a friendly expression, "Excuse my rude student, you are Hyuuga Hinata, right?" with a kind look on his face, "If it's all right with you, you can join as a temporary member of Team 7"

Feeling a little more at ease, probably because the instructor was so nice, she didn't feel as terrified as before, regardless of the situation, "S-s-sure! Thank you" bowing lightly to him.

"Welp... that's that" he concluded, "Well... I was going to have the three of you practice coordinating skills, but seeing as there were last minute unannounced changing to the plans" passing a glance to Sasuke and Hinata, the former who just sternly looked away and the latter just timidly looked away, "I'll have to change it up a bit" he stated. Thinking for a moment, he thought what he could do with four people in the team. Luckily, an idea lit up as he snapped his fingers. Without warning, he lightly bit his thumb, drawing blood before stringing the handseals together: Boar → Dog → Bird → Monkey → Ram, "Summoning Technique!" slamming his hand onto the ground, revealing a small pug, "Yo, Pakkun" saying to the pug.

For a moment Hinata wanted to fawn over the tiny little pug before her, but held back a little. "Hey, Kakashi" the pug responded, "What's the job you have for me?"

"Simple" Fishing around for the pair of bells in his pocket, he knelt down and tied the pair of bells onto the dog, "Run off, and don't let any of these kids capture you. If you do, I'll give you some treats" passing a smile as he watched the little ninken bolt away before turning to the Genin, "Today's task, work together in groups of two to catch Pakkun within 2 hours. The winning team will get to take a day off for the rest of the day, the losing team will get harsh training until sun down,...and... go!"

Seeing this as a perfect chance, though much to his displeasure, Sasuke looked over to the pink-haired kunoichi, "Sakura, you're on my tea-"

"U-U-Uchiha!" in a panic, Hinata interrupted him, "L-Let's g-go!" panicked, she pushed brashly began pushing him forward, willing to accept any blame and criticism she gets from him later.

For a good distance, she continued pushing him forward due to her in a slight sense of panic. Until he managed to break free from her reckless attempt to run off. She was still startled, not terrified from what happened, but the moment she heard Sasuke call out to Sakura to be on his team; she envisioned what it was going to be like working with Naruto. It was still too soon. Even if this was an opportunity handed out to her, she felt she still didn't build the confidence she needed to be able to do something as be able to work cooperatively, let alone even talk to him to discuss any strategies they should take.

"O-Oi!" slightly irritated, she expected him to be slightly angry, "What's the big idea? It was a perfect opportunity for you to start working together" he explained to her. However, it had only lasted a slight moment before she heard him sigh, "Nevermind,... perhaps it was still a little too early" tending to the slight headache he was developing.

Embarassed, she was at least still a little relieved that he wasn't as critical as she imagined he was going to be, "S-s-sorry" apologizing, "Next time!...I'll d-definitely do better!" declaring to him despite the slightly dulled uninterested look on his face.

"Well... first things first" deciding to drop the matter for now, "Hyuuga, can you use your Byakugan to find Pakkun?" asking her, "Depending how much of a hard time Sakura is giving him, Naruto has likely already sent out a bunch of his shadow clones all over the city looking for that dog"

Taken by surprised she wasn't sure how to respond, "I-I could,... but" it wasn't' that she couldn't, but like with the competition she had with her own team, she felt herself on the spotlight when people were having to rely on her.

"Take it slow..." hearing him tell her, "Forget about the other team... the time limit...the win/loss thing... and just do what that idiot would do, that's the first and likely important first step"

Nodding slightly, she felt a slightly hesitant "R-Right!" trying to concentrate as she stood there in the silence of her thoughts. Blocking out the areas around her, she solely began to focus on what was at hand. She held up a single hand in the form of the hand seal '', "Byakugan!" suddenly, her pupils became more distinct and the veins near her temples bulged. Her range was limited, unlike her cousin's field of sight; she could probably see just around 30m (98.4ft). Concentrating, she could see a few clones scattered around, "No dog" she said.

"Tch... no avail, let's move" he stated before hastily making his way, "Let me know if you catch a trace of him" telling her.

Slightly caught off guard, Hinata followed after the Uchiha, keeping her bloodline limit activated to update him if she had seen the dog running around the city. It had slightly frustrated her that her vision's range was short, thinking it could have been a lot farther had she trained with it more to extend its range. Though, the feeling she was able to make up for her lack of ability of having the courage to this the last time she was asked to work with her own team made up for it.

"Uchiha! Over there at 10'o clock!" telling, having finally caught trace of the ninken, "They're heading for the bend going southwest"

Hearing what she had to say, the two of them then changed their direction in order to match Hinata's directions. Unfortunately, there were still clones in the area, even if some were being destroyed by the ninken, or falling into Sakura's traps she had laid to either hinder them or Pakkun himself. With the way things were going, they could either try and catch up to it, or devise a way to corner it and retrieve the bells by giving it no means of an escape.

"Hyuuga" she heard him call out to her as they continued the chase, "Do you know what a pincer attack is?" asking her, thinking of an idea for the two of them to use.

Thinking slightly a little, she had to recollect that during their days in the academy, they were taught several different basic strategies to use while deployed. Specifically, she remembered a little bit about the pincer formation, how one side continues the chase while the other flanks from the opposing end, thus cutting out all escape routes. "Y-Yeah... a little" not wanting to sound wrong, "W-Why?"

"I'm going to cut off its escape route from behind" he told her, "I want you to go ahead and flank him from above" instructing her.

Nodding, she was ready to divert off the path as she realized this was probably the first time she's felt confident without the need to worry about screwing up. Just focus on what you have to do, don't worry about failing or screwing up. If you mess up, just keep going and learn from your errors. Her breath running ragged as she pushed her stamina to the limit, diverting paths here and there to isolate the path that she needed to cut off, she was able to eventually come across the narrow path where she could trap him.

"Here!" thinking to herself, she popped out of the corner, keeping a fixated look on the dog as she bolted towards it, covering all places. Behind, she could still see Sasuke catching up to him from behind. However, at this part, she wasn't sure what she had to do next, as the dog was still dashing her way, "A-ah! Uchiha, w-what do I do?!" slightly panicked, she wasn't sure what else she should do.

Frustated slightly, while he would have liked to do something to stop the dog in its tracks, he would likely have been lectured by his instructor, Kakashi, or yelled at again by Naruto for endangering other people. Pushing the limits, he quickly thought of something, "Just get ready!" telling her, he pulled out three shuriken's and quickly threw them up in the air, stringing the following seals together: Rat → Tiger → Dog → Ox → Rabbit → Tiger, "Fire Release: Phoenix flower technique!" spewing out tiny balls of fire to cover the shurikens.

Curious to what he was getting at, she later understood what was going to hapen. By controlling both the flames and shuriken with his chakra, he seemingly randomly had them to clash into the areas around Pakkun who could sense where they were going to land, controlling the path he took. With the final fireball covered shuriken to land in a spot where changing directions wasn't going to help, he leapt into the air, and seeing this, Hinata dove forward, catching the dog in her arms. Exhausted, she felt her heart beat in excitement as the two of them had completed the mission, and more so because she had a huge part in it.

Eventually, everyone met up at the spot, including Kakashi who had just appeared in a puff of smoke. "Good going" saying as he watched her let him go after retrieving the bells, "That was about... just over an hour" he said, "Congratulations, Hinata and Sasuke" looking over the two.

"It was Hyuuga's idea" he calmly stated, shrugging a bit, "The only idea I made was the improvised one at the end, but it was only because she wasn't aware of Naruto's usage of just creating as many clones as needed" he said, "Next time I'm sure she'll have an easier time planning now"

This drew everyone's attention to Hinata, especially her who was surprised he was giving her all the credit. While, the other two made their ways over to congratulate her, she could only see the emblem of his clan symbol on the back of his shirt walking away. Curious, she was wondering why yet again he was taking off, but it soon was clear as a certain shinobi eagerly ran up to her as she released her bloodline limit.

"That was so cool, Hinata" he eagerly close in on her, "I still can't believe you managed to control someone as stubborn as Sasuke. Next time, I can't wait to be paired up with you!" smiling large as he scratched the back of his head.

Her face flustered up instantly with the remark he gave her, wondering if this was what the Uchiha had planned from the beginning. Sitting there, speechless, she began to feel praise and recognition, even if it was true that he did all the work. Maybe, this was the first step to gaining more confidence in herself. No matter how little or how much, the fact she was able to persevere through this small ordeal was a huge step for her. It was a little rash and sudden, not even telling her ahead what he was doing, but after this experience, she felt like she was able to use this to help drive her. But, with all this excitement she felt, she felt there was still something she should do.

-[x]-

Waiting around the next day in the morning, she pushed herself to get here an hour earlier ahead of schedule as usually she was always the one struggling to get there. Yawning, she found herself dozing up against one of the practice stumps waiting for the Uchiha to appear. Rubbing her tired eyes, she started to lightly nod off, thinking that perhaps it was a little rough to have woken up the time she did, especially when she wasn't used to it. However, a little sleep deprived was nothing if she could at least find a way to show her appreciation. Trying to stifle a yawn once more, she heard footsteps, and perked back up, looking around.

"Hyuuga?" he heard her say. Looking around, she finally caught sight of the Uchiha and stood up in a rush to go meet up with up him, "You're early" he commented as she stopped just in front of him, "What's the occasion?"

Holding what she had to offer behind him, she felt a little nervous, "Y-Y-you see..." stuttering a little, "I n-never really t-thanked you yet,... so" pulling it out front, she held up a slightly medium box, "A-As thanks I-I was h-hoping maybe... w-we could have breakfast?" this was probably the first time she's made any sort of meal for anyone aside of herself and her family which was why she had closed her eyes tight, fearing how he would take it.

"..." hearing no response, she fearfully opened her eyes to see that he was gone, crushing her hopes, until, "Hyuuga" he called to her again, causing her to quickly turn to face the source of the voice, "I was going to go get drinks" he told her, "We can eat at a better spot... if that's all right"

Her face lit up as she simply smiled a bit before eagerly following behind him. Even if the trip was filled with silence between them, for the most part, she found herself happy that at least she was making progress in some other areas as well. A part of her felt this was also just more encouragement for her to continue pushing herself to keep improving, but she couldn't complain about it. The thing though, was that she always wondered that for a shinobi who just became a genin, he was oddly persistent to get stronger at a faster pace than the rest of them. Perhaps, however, it was just like he said. Something about her eagerness to get stronger reminded him of someone. Thinking, perhaps there was someone Sasuke wanted to be able to reach as well.

* * *

 **A/N: uUGGHHHH that took longer than I wanted it to. To be honest I was just kind of mapping out what it was I was going to write. xD I'm also curious to know how many bashers are gonna waste their time reading through all the chapters just to tell me I'm a bash-author. Anywho, Chapter 3...! or something. xD. After reading all the comments 2 : 10 (actual comments : random bashers) I have decided to listen to the people in general and give them what they think I'm going to write ;) How this affects the future development of Naruto's character himself is all the thanks to the bashers ;) Much love :heart: :heart: I ain't gonna stop writing, but ya'll must really love this for the increase in bashers. As for the actual non-bashing commentators, thanks for your encouragement ;) :heart:**


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